June 28, 2010

Dear Family,
It has been adventure this last week. Elder Garrett and I tried very hard to keep the work moving forward. We did lots of tracting this last week and the Lord has blessed us with several doors opening to let us teach them and several great potential investigators. A cool story from this last week, we have been practicing teaching a short 3-5 minute lesson on the Restoration so we could share it with someone if they only had a few minutes. As we tracted this last week, we had a guy actually come out and say “I only have five minutes.” We excitedly taught him our new and improved short lesson. The man was not interested in learning more but we felt the spirit and left feeling edified and excited. It was great to see the work move forward.
Hmm… both of our investigators who were set for baptism will have to be moving their baptism dates. Just scheduling and other conflicts but we have not given up hope yet. So cool story, it was Tuesday night, I dreamed that our mission president randomly showed up to our district meeting the nest day. I woke up feeling slightly nervous (I would be giving a 40 minute training at district meeting). I was kind of jittery all day until it was my turn to stand up and talk. I felt the spirit and was able to say the right things. The mission president never did show up but we would have been ready for him, if he had come.
So do you remember the lady who came to church last week? Well we met with her last Monday night to teach her the stop smoking program the church has. She really wants to quit smoking and during the lesson we asked her to hold up a pack of cigarettes. She held up a box and Elder Garrett then proceeded to tell her to crush them. It was great, her mouth literally dropped open in shock. She tried to tell us how expensive cigarettes are. We told her she could do it and that she is stronger than the cigarettes. She then mustard up her courage and crushed them. We clapped and cheered for her. It was all exciting and we left not knowing what the next day would bring. We gave her a call and left a message. We did the same thing the next day, and the day after that. We were worried for her when we had not contacted her by Thursday. We gave her a call Thursday evening. She answered the phone. Apparently she has been doing great and has not had one cigarette since we met with her. We were so happy. It was fun to see someone change their life for the better.
Well family that was my week. I hope you have a great time on you wilderness survival trip. Mom and dad and everyone else who does not go have a great time at home.
Love,
Elder Durfee